AIIMS doctors to get special training in accident cases

Come next year, the country will see its first batch of advanced trauma life support (ATLS) staff, ready to handle trauma patients.

Come next year, the country will see its first batch of advanced trauma life support (ATLS) staff, ready to handle trauma patients.

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The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) plans to introduce the ATLS course, a copyright of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), to equip doctors in handling accident-related cases in a better way.

"We want all doctors to speak the same language when dealing with trauma patients. If an accident happens there has to be a set protocol, which all doctors will have to follow, like it happens in the West," said MC Misra, Chief of Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre (JPNATC), AIIMS.

Through this course, doctors plan to have international standards for all trauma victims. Because the course is a copyright of ACS, the Association of Trauma Care of India (ATCI) had to sign sign an MoU with the ACS in November 2007.

Before the course is started in India, a team of about six people from the ATCI will go the US to get the required training.

The ACS offers a set of two courses—provider course and instructor course— of two-and-a-half day and two-day duration respectively.

The candidates need to pass a pre-course exam to qualify for the provider course. The provider course equips doctors to handle trauma patients.

After the pre-course is cleared, there's the main course after which the candidates need to clear the post-course exam. On completion of this, they will be awarded provider certificates.

The next stage is the instructor course, a two-day course that will not only allow doctors to handle trauma patients but to also train other doctors.

Gradually, the programme will be offered all across the country. "The country needs a robust pre-hospital care system and also experts of international standards to bring down the mortality rate due to accidents. We are hopeful that this course will be a step in the right direction" said Misra.